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[LEÓN] The Mexican government is to provide US$2 million to boost science communication in the country. The money will be used to support science radio and television programmes, science supplements in newspapers, and exhibitions at science centres and museums. 


According to Jaime Parada, director of the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT), improving science communication in Mexico and in Latin America will aid the progress of both the country and the region. 


Parada officially announced the new funding at the end of last month at a meeting in León, Mexico about science communication in Latin America.


The funding represents a major increase in support for science communication in the country. But some say that it does not go far enough. According to Juan Tonda, subdirector of Communication Media at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), for example, the new funding is too restrictive. “Several important projects cannot be supported by the programme, such as collections of books about science communication”, he says. 


More than 300 representatives from 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean attended the meeting, which was organised by the network for Science Popularisation of Science and Technology in Latin America and the Caribbean (Red Pop) and the Mexican Society for Science Communication (Somedicyt).